If you’ve shipped more than one iOS app, you already know the feeling: App Store Connect works — but only barely. Releases are slow. Metadata updates are clunky. Translations are painful. And every launch feels harder than it needs to be.
That frustration is exactly where Helm came from.
In this episode of Launched, host Charlie Chapman sits down with Hidde van de Ploeg and Pol Piella, the co-founders of Helm, to unpack how a deeply personal pain point turned into a tool indie developers now recommend by name.
This isn’t a story about chasing a market. It’s a story about improving an experience that was lacking.
Build for the pain, not the platform
Helm wasn’t born out of market analysis or trend-chasing. It came from Hidde’s repeated frustration shipping his own apps. App Store Connect wasn’t broken enough to replace — but it was broken enough to slow him down every single time.
Instead of brainstorming abstract opportunities, Hidde and Pol focused on the workflows that consistently caused friction in their own day-to-day work. By starting with problems they personally experienced, they ended up building something instantly useful to the exact audience they belong to: indie app developers.
That closeness to the problem shaped everything — from what Helm does to what it very intentionally does not do.
Focus beats feature parity
Helm doesn’t try to replicate App Store Connect. It rebuilds only the parts developers actively dread — and makes them effortless.
Rather than matching Apple feature-for-feature, Hidde and Pol obsessed over friction points like fast TestFlight access, AI-powered translations, and smoother release workflows. The goal was never completeness. It was relief.
By doing less, but doing it brilliantly, Helm turns a clunky chore into something developers actually enjoy using. The product succeeds not by breadth, but by precision.
Delight is the best growth strategy
Helm didn’t grow through paid ads, SEO funnels, or launch gimmicks. It grew because developers felt seen.
As Helm spread, a pattern emerged on social media: when someone complained about App Store Connect, another developer would often jump in to recommend Helm. That kind of advocacy only happens when a product genuinely removes pain for the right people.
Helm’s growth is a reminder that for indie tools, delight can be a far more powerful growth engine than distribution tactics.
Marketing is about memory, not metrics
Some of Helm’s most talked-about moments weren’t designed to convert at all.
Sponsoring a small amateur football team named Swift wasn’t about customer acquisition. It was about building brand lore. Playful initiatives like Helm Passport followed the same philosophy — they were meant to be fun, human, and memorable.
In a world of perfectly optimized funnels, Helm stands out by embracing personality. That personality sticks with people long after they forget feature lists.
Mobile is a chance to surprise
When Helm expanded to iOS, the team didn’t simply shrink the desktop experience to fit a smaller screen. They leaned into what mobile does best.
Features like Helm Passport, built with App Clips, introduced a playful, real-world interaction that sparked conversation and sharing. Mobile wasn’t treated as a secondary surface, but as an opportunity to rethink how the product could show up in people’s lives.
Great mobile experiences don’t just adapt existing products. They reimagine them.
Shared ownership beats rigid roles
Although Hidde and Pol come from different backgrounds — design and engineering — they don’t operate in silos. Both founders touch the whole product, jump in wherever needed, and stay deeply familiar with the entire codebase.
That shared ownership keeps Helm fast, resilient, and aligned. For small teams, overlapping responsibility often matters more than clearly defined roles.
A product built from real frustration
Helm’s story is a reminder of why Launched exists in the first place.
You don’t need a grand vision to start something meaningful. Sometimes, you just need a problem that won’t leave you alone — and the willingness to fix it properly.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Launched to hear Hidde van de Ploeg and Pol Piella share how they turned everyday frustration into one of the most loved indie tools in the iOS ecosystem — and where Helm is headed next.